Roman Catholic Church of St Charles, attached presbytery and boundary wall to south and south west

Roman Catholic Church of St Charles with attached presbytery and boundary wall to the south and south west

A Roman Catholic church and presbytery designed by Charles Menart and built in 1910-11 in the Decorated Gothic style. The buildings are constructed of rock-faced sandstone with ashlar dressings and blue-grey slate roofs.

The church is cruciform in plan, oriented east to west. It comprises an apsed chancel with a vestry on the south side, a three-bay aisled nave with short transepts, a west porch, and north-west and south-west towers. The church occupies a central location in Gosforth and displays steeply pitched roofs with stone gable copings.

The east end features a five-sided apse with a pyramidal roof. The central face is blind, while the other faces are lit by wide round-headed windows in the manner of the 16th century. The chancel has paired lancets with cusped heads to the north and south sides. A single-storey vestry with a pitched roof has been added to the south side. The gabled transepts contain large, wide pointed-arch windows, with a Decorated Gothic window to the south, surmounted by a cross finial. The three-bay nave has a clerestory of three wide round-headed windows similar to those of the apse, each set beneath a small eaves gable; those on the south side have tracery in Perpendicular style. The north aisle is largely obscured by a modern parish room addition, but the south aisle has a pent roof and each of the three bays has paired lancets with cusped heads.

The three-bay west end is surmounted by a cross finial and features a large pointed-arch window with hood mould to the centre gabled bay, with similar tracery to that of the south clerestory. The Gothic west entrance in the central bay is formed of ashlar stonework and includes a pair of tall pointed-arched openings alternating with pilasters supporting canopied niches; this is now encased within a modern glass porch. The two end bays are formed by a pair of tall towers, largely blind but with cusp-headed lancets to the ground and upper stages, the latter set within shallow rectangular projections. The upper stage is set back slightly and constructed of coursed squared sandstone. The towers are surmounted by octagonal broached spires with gabled lucarnes to the cardinal faces and crocket finials. From the north and south outer faces of the towers project tall, gabled stair turrets.

The presbytery is a two-storey building with attics, featuring quoins, sill bands and hipped slate roofs with overhanging eaves and decorative ridge tiles. External stone stacks are positioned on the north and south gables, that to the south with ashlar detailing. Window frames are mostly original six-over-one horned sashes, with some replacements.

The south elevation of the presbytery includes a two-bay cross wing to the right with a scrolled pedimented parapet, prominent verges and scrolled kneelers. This wing has a canted bay window with a segmental-arched and crenellated parapet to the ground floor, a pair of rectangular windows to the first floor, and triple narrow small-pane rectangular windows to the attic. The attic also features an Art Nouveau-style apron with a Fleur-de-Lys motif. To the left is a two-bay range with a five-panelled door main entrance and canted bay to the ground floor with continuous porch. The first floor has a pair of rectangular windows and a large keyed, round-headed window. A single attic dormer with a segmental head is also present. The building is attached at the south-west corner to the church vestry by a narrow linking block.

The church interior features walls clad in Italian marble slabs in cream, black and white. Piers and columns are square with recessed corners and a classical moulding rather than capitals. The sanctuary has projecting canted steps and the apse has a pointed-arch blind arcade; the marble cladding of the apse has black bands outlining panels of cream-coloured stone. Marble pilasters support the chancel roof, which has arch-braced trusses with a winged angel boss. The east window comprises four stained glass windows depicting scenes from the life of Christ, signed by Atkinson Bros.

Side chapels flank the sanctuary. The north chapel contains a reduced form of the original high altar and a section of the original marble altar rail. The south Lady Chapel has angel bosses to its arch-braced roof, derived from the dismantled baldacchino, and a font also comprising pieces of the latter, together with a section of the original altar rail. The shallow transepts have tall, wide pointed arches with transverse arches and feature high-quality stained glass windows by Harry Clarke Studios: the north transept contains a Pieta, whilst the south contains the Adoration of the Shepherds and the Magi. Also in the north transept, high on the wall facing the tabernacle, is a First World War memorial recording the names of 36 parishioners who fell; this takes the form of a large copy of Raphael's 'Sistine Madonna'.

The nave has stone arcades of three wide, pointed arches springing from clustered columns of square form alternating with slim pilasters, which rise to the round-headed clerestory to support the decorative arch-braced, collar-rafter roof. The central window of the south side features a fine stained glass window by Harry Clarke Studios depicting Christ before Pilate. Hand-carved marble Stations of the Cross are affixed to the walls of the aisles. At the west end, the organ gallery is supported on a pair of slender cast-iron columns and a brass rail with Perspex panels.

The presbytery interior features geometric tiles to the entrance hall and five-panel doors throughout the ground and first floors. The ground floor includes a central stair hall with a small fireplace featuring an unusual, ornate chimneypiece and reception rooms beyond. Reception rooms to the front have original timber or stone chimneypieces, ceiling roses, skirtings and cornices; that to the right is also timber-panelled. The main staircase is a closed-string open-well stair with turned balusters and ornate newel posts, lit by a round-headed stair window with stained glass to its upper parts. The first-floor landing has an identical small fireplace and bedrooms leading off. Bedrooms mostly retain original fireplaces, chimneypieces, ceiling roses, cornices and skirtings, with at least one featuring an original fitted cupboard. A plaster arched opening leads to the second floor via a winder staircase; rooms are small with original small cast-iron chimneypieces to the fireplaces, and doors are mostly four-panel.

The boundary wall features an arched and buttressed main corner entrance with flanking, stepped walls with convex coping stones. The stepped wall extends to the east with a central entrance flanked by piers with a stone band and pyramidal caps.